Garment construction



A ril 28, 1970 v. J. VOLLRATH GARMENT CONSTRUCTION Filed April 7, 1969 vuron J. voLum TH Arronuzr United States Patent 3,508,550 GARMENT CONSTRUCTION Victor J. Vollrath, 7980 N. Pennsylvania St., Indianapolis, Ind. 46240 Filed Apr. 7, 1969, Ser. No. 814,064 Int. Cl. A61f /44 U.S. Cl. 128295 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An underclothing construction which provides multiplelayers of material in the region of the wearers crotch, the inner layer being absorbent and the overlying layer or layers being moisture repellant.

Certain bodily conditions of both male and female persons cause them to be bothered and troubled with urinary incontinence, to one degree or another, in which a certain amount of dribbling of urine occurs involuntarily and uncontrollably. Without going here into a detailed medical explanation of various abnormalities or conditions which cause such incontinence, such may be illustrated by the effect of enlarged prostate of male persons, which produces as one effect some dribbling of urine following urination.

Such incontinence is quite annoying and bothersome, and causes a wetting and in some cases a staining of the persons trousers.

This invention relates to a garment construction, more particularly to underclothing and pajamas; and concepts of the invention provide means to avoid some of the disadvantages of the urinary incontinence. Concepts of the invention provide underclothing having an inwardly-facing layer or panel of absorbent material, of flannel or flannel-like material, which soaks up dribbles of urine as would continue to 'be discharged following urination by a person having a certain bodily condition, such as enlarged prostate, which causes the incontinence.

Outer layers or panels of the garment construction, one of which panels may be the garment body itself, are moisture-repellant, and thus prevent the wetting, discoloration, or staining of the users trousers, as now happens when dribbles of urine soak into and through a persons underclothing.

More particular details of embodiments illustrative of the present inventive concepts are set forth in the following more detailed description, reference being had to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an interior view of the front portion of a mans undershorts embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal cross-sectional view thereof taken generally as indicated by view-line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view of the inside face of the right bodypanel of the garment prior to the assembly or stitching thereof into the garment;

FIG. 4 is a similar pre-assembly view of the inside face of the left body-panel of the garment;

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view, taken generally as indicated by view-line 55 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but of an embodiment in which there is a panel disposed between the absorbent panel and the garment body-panel; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmental view illustrating the multipanel construction.

As shown in the drawings, a mans undershorts 10 are shown to illustrate the inventive concepts, the shorts 10 being of a garment type having a right body panel 12 and a left body panel 14, and a rear body panel (not shown), with an elastic band 16. The panels 12 and 14 are sewn together in a manner to leave a front opening or fly 18 3,508,550 Patented Apr. 28, 1970 located in the upper central portion of the crotch region of the garment.

The details mentioned in the above paragraph are of course not meant to indicate any novelty as to those components, and are specified here merely as illustrative of the type of garment embodying the present inventive concepts.

According to concepts of the present invention, a layer or panel of flannel or flannel-like absorbent cloth or material is shown as sewed to each of the right body panel 12 and left body panel 14 respectively, the corresponding right and left flannel panels being indicated by reference numerals 20 and 22, respectively.

As shown best in FIGS. 3 and 4, the flannel panels 20 and 22 etend from the bottom edge 24 of the garment legs, upwardly fully along the entire side-panel edge 26, a portion of which edge 26 is to be sewed to a laterallyopposite portion of the side panel and a portion of which edge 26 which is to be sewed to the rear panel (not shown), then along the short under-fly edge 27 which extends fore-and-aft when the side panels are stitched into assembled position, then along the stitching 28 which outlines the fly 18, then extends laterally in a direction generally parallel to the users waist for a relatively short length 30, then downwardly along a generally vertical line or edge 32 to the said bottom edge 24 of the garment.

Accordingly, when the side panels 12 and 14 are stitched into assembled position forming the body of the garment, the corresponding flannel or absorbent panels 20 and 22 thus co-operate to provide an absorbent surface, facing the wearer, and continuously covering the entire front crotch area. With mens undergarments, as here shown, the regions 34 closely adjacent and along the fly 18 do not need to be faced with the absorbent material, for the penis will hang either to one side or the other; although with womens garments, not having a fly, the absorbent panels 20* and 22 would come into full adjacency across the entire front of the garment.

The absorbent material of the panels 20' and 22 is desirably of a pre-shmnk cotton flannelette.

Outwardly of the absorbent panels 20 and 22, the garment is provided with protective panels of a moisturerepellant material, such as a cloth made from Dacron Polyester and 20% combed coton, which presently may be purchased from Klopman Mills, Inc., Retail Division, W. 40th St., New York 18, N.Y., under the trade name Super Vino-Permanent Press.

Such moisture-resistant material may be a panel 36 (FIGS. 6, 7) attached outwardly with respect to the absorbent panels 20 or 22, and overlying the Same but inwardly of the garments body-panels 12 and 14; or, as indicated by FIG. 5, such material-repellant material may be the body-panels 20 or 22 themselves, in a construction in which the garment body is itself formed from moistureresistant material.

It will be understood that the material of the garment body panels 12 and 14, the rear body panel (not shown), the absorbent panels 20 and 22, and the overlying panel 36, are of desired pre-shrunk and machine washable material.

In addition to providing comfort, the protection offered by garments embodying the inventive concepts not only also avoids wetting and discoloration of the Wearers trousers or other outergarments, but also prevents those outergarments from acquiring the obnoxious odor from dried urine, and it accordingly prolongs the useful life of the outergarments.

Within the present inventive concepts, the protection inherent in the invention may be advantageously utilized in underpants, shorts, trunks, pajamas and other garments worn adjacent the person of either males or females.

Concepts of the invention as illustrated by the embodiments herein described and illustrated, are thus seen to accomplish the intended objects and to provide advantages of construction and use, including those hereinbefore pointed out and others that are inherent in the invention.

It will be understood that modifications may be effected without departing from the novel concepts of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be considered limited to the specific forms or arrangements herein described and shown.

What is claimed is:

1. A urinary incontinence garment construction including pajamas or underclothing to be worn adjacent the person of the wearer who is afflicted with urinary incontinence, said garment construction including a panel of absorbent material in the region of the crotch, secured thereto, said absorbent material panel extending along the region of the garment in which the leg-portions of the garment are joined, and adapted to soak up urinary incontinence dribbles or the like, the garment having a panel of moisture-repellant material overlying said absorbent material panel.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which the garment has side panels, in a combination in which the absorbent material panel is formed from two portions, one of which is afiixed to each of the side panels of the garment.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 2 in a combination in which the portion aflixed to each body side panel extends upwardly from a location below the crotch, and along the side panel edge, a portion of which side panel edge is sewed to a laterally-opposite portion of the side panel and a portion of which edge is sewed to the rear panel, then along the edge of the side panel which extends fore-and-aft when the side panels are assembled into the garment, then upwardly along the upper front edge of the side panels, then laterally outwardly, then downwardly to said location below the crotch.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 2 in a combination in which the portion afiixed to each body side panel extends from a location below the crotch upwardly to a position above any location of urinary incontinence discharge, and laterally from a position adjacent the other body side panel outwardly for a space to achieve a soaking area, and fore-and-aft from a position forwardly of the crotch to a location under the crotch but rearwardly of any location of urinary incontinence discharge.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in a combination in which the said moisture-repellant material panel is a component provided by a panel other than a body panel of the garment.

6. The invention as set forth in claim 5 in a combination in which the said other panel overlies the said absorbent material panel but underlies the adjacent garment body panel.

ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

